PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- In his return to Portland, Brian
Grant received a warm welcome. The rest of his Miami Heat
teammates were not treated as nicely.

Bonzi Wells scored 13 of his 22 points in the decisive first
quarter as the Trail Blazers blew past Grant and the Heat,
85-74, for their 13th win in 14 games.

Grant played three seasons in Portland, where he was a fine
power forward and a pillar of the community. But during the
offseason, he opted out of a seven-year, $63 million contract in
an attempt to get a new deal from the Blazers.

When it became clear that Portland was not interested in Grant,
he began to look elsewhere. He ended up in Miami as part of a
sign-and-trade deal, receiving a seven-year, $93 million pact.

"It's always fun going against your (former) teammates," Grant
said. "It's never any ill feelings toward the players, no ill
feelings toward management. As a matter of fact, I saw (Blazers
owner) Paul Allen and his mother as they were coming in. They
said hello. We shook hands and talked a little bit. It was
good."

Upon his introduction, Grant received a huge ovation from the
crowd of 20,267 at The Rose Garden.

"I appreciated that," Grant said. "I didn't know what to expect
-- nothing negative, but I didn't expect that much. Portland
was good to me while I was here."

However, Grant and the Heat did not get off to a good start and
they never recovered. He finished with 11 points on 5-of-11
shooting.

"The welcome was great for me tonight but we didn't win. In
fact, we took a step back," said Grant, who had 24 points and 13
rebounds in Miami's 86-80 home win over Portland on November 18.
"I'm actually glad the game is over with because I've been
thinking about this game and coming back to Portland all
season."

"Brian was a warrior for us," Wells said. "He was our
everything. It's tough to see him on another team but we wanted
to beat him. We owed him one."

Wells had an early basket before exploding for 11 points in a
19-2 burst that closed the quarter and gave Portland a 27-10
lead. The Heat never seriously threatened thereafter and became
the 10th straight home victim of the Blazers.

"We talked about this being a place where people hate to come
to," Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy said.

Rasheed Wallace scored 18 points and Steve Smith added 12 for
the Blazers, who again won without forward Scottie Pippen, who
remains sidelined with right elbow tendinitis.

Eddie Jones had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Heat, who
began a three-game road trip with their fourth straight loss
away from home.

"They just beat the hell out of us," Miami coach Pat Riley said.
"They remembered the loss we put on them in Miami and the
Blazers are playing well right now. We went through a period on
the road when we played well but we've lost four in a row on the
road now."

Portland took the lead for good at 10-8 with 6:52 left in the
first quarter on a jumper by Wallace that triggered the run.
Wells made three straight hoops, throwing in a free throw, to
push the lead to 17-8.

"I am being a scavenger off the double-team," Wells said. "I am
trying to get in position and let them (big men) see me."

After the teams traded baskets, Wells and Wallace alternated
baskets to make it 27-10 after one period. The Blazers shot 50
percent (11-of-22) and the Heat shot 21 percent (3-of-14) in the
quarter.

Miami began the second quarter with six straight points and cut
the deficit to 39-31 on a 3-pointer by Jones with 1:22 left in
the first half. But Wells sank a jumper at the horn and Wallace
and Damon Stoudamire scored eight points each in the third
period as Portland rebuilt the lead to 69-52 entering the fourth
quarter.

Augmon scored 10 points for the Blazers, who shot 42 percent
(32-of-77) but made 20-of-23 free throws and overpowered the
Heat, 48-29, on the boards.